Korean cultural authorities on Tuesday officially launched the restoration of the archaeological ruins at an Angkor temple in Laos, as part of the K-Heritage initiative. According to the Cultural Heritage Administration and the Cultural Heritage Foundation, the first stage of the restoration of Hong Nang Sida (meaning chamber of Princess Sida) inside the Wat Phou Temple in the Champasak area of southern Laos kicked off on Tuesday, local time, with key officials from both countries attending. The

Im Dami, a Korean-born contestant, was crowned the winner of “X Factor Australia 2013,” a television reality music competition.According to Australian news media, the 24-year-old piano teacher outlasted Jai Waetford then Taylor Henderson to be named the winner in the season finale. She has become the first Asian-Australian immigrant to win the singing audition.“I don’t believe that I won. I want to win this for people like me who are dags and inspire them to dream big!” Dami said.Born in Seoul,

Arieh Warshel, co-winner of this year’s Nobel Prize in chemistry, hailed the power of computing in revolutionizing science and opening a new horizon for human knowledge.“When I first started using computer simulations (during the 1960s), there was no such computer program so I to design one,” Arieh Warshel, professor of chemistry at University of Southern California, said in a news conference in Seoul on Monday.Warshel is often referred as the “man who took chemistry into cyberspace” as he laid

ROME (AFP) ― Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi finally became an honorary citizen of Rome Sunday, 19 years after the honour was awarded to her.The Nobel peace laureate was given the citizenship in 1994 but spent most of the past two decades under house arrest in Myanmar which meant she was unable to collect her award.Rome mayor Ignazio Marino said on his Twitter account that the city could “finally award it to a free woman.”At a ceremony at the town hall, a modest Suu Kyi denied that sh

BRUSSELS (AFP) ― Belgium’s King Philippe, whose shy ways as crown prince worried the kingdom for many years, is winning over the public after 100 days on the throne, surveys showed this weekend.As Philippe prepares to mark his first 100 days as monarch on Monday, a survey saw him gain popularity even in Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north where sentiment is cooler towards the royal family than in the French-speaking south.A total 59 percent of Flemish people expressed confidence in the 53-year-

An English book on “kimjang,” the kimchi-making process for the winter, was released on Monday to mark the Korean tradition likely to be designated UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, according to the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation. The 192-page “Kimjang: Making and Sharing Kimchi” explains the origin, history and people behind kimchi, possibly the most popular Korean food. “Kimchi, along with rice, is one of the two things that people in this country cannot live without. It is fine to make

Lou Reed, the punk poet of rock ` n' roll who profoundly influenced generations of musicians as leader of the Velvet Underground and remained a vital solo performer for decades after, died Sunday at age 71.Reed died in Southampton, New York, of an ailment related to his recent liver transplant, according to his literary agent, Andrew Wylie, who added that Reed had been in frail health for months. Reed shared a home in Southampton with his wife and fellow musician, Laurie Anderson, whom he marrie

Ahn Chang-ho, a late independence activist, will be honored with a posthumous certificate of graduation from Yonsei University.The award comes 118 years after he entered the forerunner of Yonsei.The school will award Ahn with a certificate of honorary graduation in a ceremony at Yonsei-Samsung Library on the Sinchon campus in Seoul on Nov. 8, a day before his birthday. His grandson, Philip Cuddy, 58, is scheduled to attend the event.Yonsei will also hold a commemorative exhibition for Ahn in a m

The “5th Bravo! ASEAN in Korea 2013” showcased Southeast Asian traditional music and dance, as well as pop music performances, at the Millennium Hall of Konkuk University in Seoul on Saturday.The theme of the fifth installment of “Bravo ASEAN” was “diversity in harmony” to highlight the enormous diversity of ethnicities, language and most of all cultural heritage of the 10 countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, organizers from the ASEAN-Korea Centre said. The event ha